A Fifth of the World’s Food Is Wasted

International Study on the Global Food System: Overeating and “Throwaway Mentality” Re-duce Global Food Security and Damage the Environment

Almost half of harvested crops is lost through overeating, waste, and inefficient production processes (Photo: Markus Breig, KIT)

39 percent of adults worldwide are overweight, 13 percent even obese – with the trend increasing, says the World Health Organization (WHO). At the same time, 795 million people are starving. Still, 1.3 billion tons of food are thrown away every year according to the Welthungerhilfe. Almost 20 percent of the food made available to consumers worldwide is lost through overeating or waste alone. This is the result of an international study, in which climate researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) were involved.